Ctrip has published a report offering analysis of global travel industry trends during the FIFA World Cup.
Held every four years and hosted by Russia this year, the tournament lasted from June 14th-July 15th.
The report describes travel, flight and consumption preferences of fans from all over the world who went to Russia during the period, with particularly detailed data regarding Chinese football fans’ travel behaviour.
According to the data from Ctrip-owned Skyscanner, the report shows that nearly 600,000 football fans from 83 countries visited Russia during the period of the tournament.
The largest number of football fans came from South Korea, which accounted for 13.4 per cent of total supporters travelling to Russia, followed by Germany (12.4 per cent), Spain (5.2 per cent) and Israel (five per cent).
The latter is surprising, as Israel were not involved in the tournament.
Travellers from all over the world spent an average of 17 days in Russia during their trip.
The most popular Russian city for football fans to visit was Moscow, followed by St. Petersburg, Sochi, Kazan, and Ekaterinburg respectively.
The average price for flights to Russia during the summer period between mid-June to mid-July was about £600 a ticket.
The most expensive flights from were from Mexico, costing an average of almost £1,600 a ticket, followed by flights from the US, which cost an average of nearly £1,200.
Football fans from Mexico booked their flight tickets an average of 137 days in advance, which was well in advance of the global average of 80 days.
According to the report, the lowest air fares on average were for booking of 50 days in advance.
Some 40,000 of the total 600,000 football fans who travelled to Russia this summer came from China, which was ten times more than Chinese travelling the world-famous football tournament’s previous edition in Brazil four years ago.
